The remnants of Hurricane Irma moved north through Florida yesterday, bringing severe flash flooding to Jacksonville and dumping rain on Georgia and South Carolina. By Tuesday morning, roughly 15 million people in Florida were without power, according to the Department of Homeland Security. At least 48 people have died as a result of the storm, including at least 13 in the continental U.S., per AP.
Meanwhilein the Florida Keys, an estimated 25% of homes were destroyed and another 65% suffered "major damage," FEMA director Brock Long said. Conditions are so bad that the Defense Department estimated that the 10,000 people who rode out the storm may need to be evacuated. "My heart goes out to the people in the Keys," said Florida Gov. Rick Scott. "There's devastation. I just hope everybody survived. It's horrible what we saw."
There are signs that the endangered Key deer, a species that lives only in the Florida Keys, has managed to weather Hurricane Irma, per The Scientist.
By the numbers: There are fewer than 1,000 Key deer still living in the wild.
Staying put: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chose to let the deer remain in the wild, given the difficulty of collecting the animals and the fact that they've handled the weather in the Keys for thousands of years. In fact, human activity, especially the danger from cars, is the greatest threat to the tiny deer's conservation.
The good news: CBS photographers on Big Pine Key spotted a group of four Key deer yesterday.
Irma, which made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane Sunday, downed power lines and trees and brought dangerous floodwaters to the state before being downgraded to a tropical storm Monday morning.
Irma's path: The storm currently has sustained winds of 65 mph and gusts of more than 90 mph. It's now headed in the direction of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert joined Sarah Sanders Monday to brief reporters on Hurricanes Harvey and Irma:
On 9/11's 16th anniversary and impending terror attacks: "We don't have any current active threats against the homeland."
Harvey aid: Roughly 700,000 people have registered for assistance in the regions affected by Hurricane Harvey.
Irma priorities: Life-saving operations are still the top priority. DHS also worried about flooding, housing, debris and power restoration.
Disaster relief resources: "Right now, we have plenty of resources to get through this," said Bossert, but he expects the government will request three or four more supplemental appropriations.
Role of climate change in hurricanes: "Causality is something outside of my ability to analyze right now... we'll have to do a larger trend analysis at a later date."
On more than 5 million people being without power in Florida: Bossert said it could be weeks before power is restored.
Data from Goldman Sachs Investment Research and the National Hurricane Center reveals that Hurricane Harvey could rack up an estimated $85 billion in damage, which would make it the second-costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Meanwhile, Hurricane Irma could go down as one of the five costliest U.S. hurricanes, per AP.
"The 'One America Appeal' launched last week by all five living former presidents to raise private money for hurricane victims ... announced that their efforts will also aid Floridians impacted by Hurricane Irma."
"A special restricted account has been established through the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation ... to ensure 100 cents out of every dollar goes to assist hurricane victims. In addition to the Florida Disaster Recovery Fund, donations will also be shared with the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund focusing on the greater Houston region, and the Rebuild Texas Fund."
Donate, and see the former president in two 30-second videos, including one that'll be on "Monday Night Football" tonight.
400-mile-wide Hurricane Irma "zeroed in on the Tampa Bay region early Monday after hammering much of Florida with roof-ripping winds, gushing floodwaters and widespread power outages," per AP:
"In one of the largest U.S. evacuations, nearly 7 million people in the Southeast were warned to seek shelter elsewhere, including 6.4 million in Florida alone."
"More than 3.3 million homes and businesses across the state lost power."
"Upon leaving Florida, a weakened Irma is expected to push into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and beyond."
"A tropical storm warning was issued for the first time ever in Atlanta, where many schools canceled classes because of the storm."
